Executive Summary
Benhaven, Inc., a non-profit agency that has been providing services to children,
adolescents and adults with autism for 35 years, has established a consulting practice
called Benhaven’s Learning Network. The practice will focus on providing consultation
and technical assistance to public school special education programs throughout
Connecticut. This new enterprise originated in response to requests by our target clients.
It began as a pilot in July 2001, and this past July, the group was more formally
established, with its own budget, office, staff and management.
The mission of Benhaven’s Learning Network (BLN) is to support school system
personnel in developing their capabilities to serve students with autism effectively. As
stated by one of the experts we interviewed in building this business plan, “On-site
consultation, such as that offered by BLN, provides districts the immediate access to
expertise they need (and that parents are demanding), while making available a
systematic, long-term strategy for building real capacity within the system.” BLN’s
distinguishing characteristic is the range of services provided as well as the availability of
in-district technical support. By starting the consulting practice, Benhaven, Inc. greatly
enhances the scope of its mission, affecting many more students than it ever could in its
own facilities. The new venture will also provide a financial contribution to the overall
organization and give professional development opportunities to Benhaven, Inc.’s staff.
The practice has been started to meet tremendous market demand. Information provided
to us by the Connecticut Department of Education indicates an increase in the number of
students with autism in Connecticut alone has gone from 151 in 1991 to 1,700 in 2001.
Experts suggest that the increased incidence of autism is real, although partially
explained by a broader definition of the disability and professionals utilizing the
diagnosis more frequently. Most public school systems are struggling to provide
appropriate educational services for students with autism, with a common solution being
placement, at greatly increased cost, outside the school district. Remediation approaches
and teaching strategies related to autism are constantly evolving. The field is also one
that seems to inspire many new ideas, ranging from some that are grounded in sound
practices developed in the traditional fields of psychology, psychiatry and occupational
therapy to others from the fringes of alternative medicine and psychotherapy. Given our
35-year history in the field, BLN consultants are able to promote “Best Practices” and
bring clarity of instructional techniques to those charged with educating autistic children
utilizing “Person-Centered Futures Planning.” During the pilot year, the feedback from
the school systems was extremely positive. For example, in a case where a youngster was
in danger of being sent out of the district because of dangerous behavior, Benhaven
personnel were asked to evaluate his program. After agreeing to help the school district,
employees of Benhaven School facilitated planning for the student, conducted staff
training, and helped lead team meetings in the district. This involvement led to increased
skills for the teaching staff and astoundingly positive changes in the life of the boy. We
believe examples like this illustrate the “value proposition” of our approach. This led to
Benhaven’s decision to invest the resources needed to establish the venture on firm
footing.
During the first year of full operation, the group has six full-time consultants, including a
managing consultant and administrative assistant. Four consultants will be added for the
second year and three more for the third year, making a total of thirteen. Additions to
staff are projected to fulfill anticipated increased demand for educational services as well
as the need for so-called transitional services as the population ages and emphasis of the
education switches from school to preparing for work. 30% of the school districts in the
state have already contracted for BLN services. We also determined that within the next
two years, the State of Connecticut Department of Education intends to raise the
standards related to educational services for students with autism, which cannot be met
through school district resources alone. School systems also have a financial incentive to
serve their students with autism in district schools, rather than sending them out-of
district special education schools.
Three other consulting groups are doing similar or related work with school systems, but
the field is not highly competitive. Each of the four groups has more requests for
services than can be accepted and they appear to each be gravitating toward different
segments of the market. BLN’s preferred clients are those public school systems that
wish to invest resources needed to have high-quality educational services. BLN has a
market advantage for this segment of the market in that its staff is made up of former
teachers and administrators with a great deal of experience and expertise in education for
students with autism. A further advantage is being part of Benhaven, which has been a
prominent resource for autism in Connecticut for may years.
The budget for BLN in the first year is $715,000 and is expected to increase 130% to
$1,639,200 by Year Three. BLN projects to operate at a deficit of approximately $60,000
for the first year. The Board of Directors of Benhaven, Inc. has agreed to subsidize the
enterprise by this amount for the first year. Projections call for BLN to operate at breakeven for the second year and generate an operating profit of approximately $98,000 in the
third year. Benhaven, Inc. has the financial means to fund start up and working capital
costs of the new venture. As of FYE 6/30/02 the audited financial statements show
unrestricted net assets of $1,500,000. The financial goal of the new venture is to provide
greater financial stability to Benhaven, Inc.
BLN is fortunate to have an extremely capable manager who is highly regarded by the
public school special education administrators in many of the 169 school districts in
Connecticut. This manager has recruited a top-notch staff and continues to attract others
interested in working at BLN. Furthermore, BLN has a Lead Consultant whose fine
reputation in the field matches that of the Manager.
Various risks to ultimate success have been identified; including staffing and resistance
by potential clients to use BLN based on their own financial constraints and/or other
limiting factors. However, we are confident that the value-added approach of BLN,
combining direct services, problem solving and building capacity will lead us to success.
Contingency plans call for looking to other areas for consulting work and/or scaling back
the size of the venture.
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Description of the Business
Benhaven’s Learning Network, a consulting practice, has been started to provide
technical assistance to public school special education programs throughout Connecticut
that are struggling with effectively meeting the needs of an increasing population of
autistic students. Note: Throughout this business plan, we will use the term autism or
autistic. However, in the field, the diagnosis is usually referred to as “autism spectrum
disorder (ASD)” or “pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). Within the diagnosis,
there are varying degrees of impairment or disability. See Appendix A.

The primary purpose of launching Benhaven’s Learning Network (BLN) is to assist
Connecticut school systems in building their capacities to develop and implement
customized educational programs that enable students with autism to live, learn and
work successfully in their own communities.

The financial objective of this mission-driven venture is to provide the parent
organization with 20% increase in revenue by Year Three from a diversified payer
base. At the end of the third year, we anticipate net income from this business line of
$98,000 for the year, which is after a contribution to overhead of almost $122,000.
Willie’s Story - An Illustration of the Value Proposition
In 1998, the Director of Special Services in Farmington, CT asked Linda Grimm, the
Benhaven School Principal for help in evaluating their program for Willie, an 8-year-old
student with autism. The town needed to make a decision to retain Willie in district or
place him with a private special education facility such as Benhaven.
Willie was no longer permitted to be part of his regular classroom because of his
dangerously aggressive behavior. The school had resorted to having him receive
instruction from an educational aide in a storage closet, where a desk for him had been
placed. The school staff wanted Willie out of their classroom because they felt that his
problem behaviors and his learning needs made him inappropriate for their school. In
addition, other students’ parents were adamantly voicing their request to have Willie
taken out of the classroom. On the other hand, Willie’s parents wanted to know that
Farmington had exhausted every possibility to make his school a successful environment
for their son.
Linda Grimm agreed to get involved to help the town. In observing Willie, Ms. Grimm
quickly recognized that many of his problem behaviors were directly related to his not
knowing how to communicate his needs and wants. It was also clear that the school’s
staff did not understand how to support an autistic student. Ms. Grimm’s
recommendation was to develop a “Person Centered Futures Plan,” which she offered to
facilitate. A Futures Plan is a process that allows the members of a student’s planning
and placement team (PPT) to learn together. They learn about the student’s past, who he
is now, and how to build on his strengths and capabilities to create a positive future for
him. The plan also identifies what staff would need to learn and what support they would
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
3
need to help Willie achieve this positive future. (See Appendix B for the notes from that
planning session.)
Benhaven school personnel agreed to work with the staff of this school in Farmington to
implement the Futures Plan. Benhaven staff began by going to help at Willie’s school
five days per week for the first month. The second month they faded to three days per
week and by the third month, a Benhaven teacher was at the school once or twice per
week, primarily for meetings about Willie. A few months later, they were able to fade
entirely, although still available to discuss issues over the telephone.
During this time, the Farmington staff learned how to help Willie express his needs and
wants and, eventually, how to control his emotions. They learned how to structure
environments and how to break down tasks into their component parts. They learned
how to help Willie feel successful and comfortable in the school environment. Once the
classroom teachers and aides became more confident with their new skills, they helped
the rest of the staff and students of the school become more aware of Willie’s capabilities
and more comfortable being around him. The staff helped the parents of some of the
other students understand that by working together to help Willie be a successful member
of their school community, the lives of everyone in the community were being enriched.
Now after a few years, Willie has been integrated successfully into regular science and
Spanish classes at his middle school. His parents are very proud of him and all that he
has accomplished. His teachers and friends are proud of themselves. Willie is proud and
happier, as well. He uses a computer and writes for the school newspaper. He was in the
school’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” Dr. Jane Currie, the special education
administrator who originally requested Benhaven’s involvement, later wrote: “In
addition to Willie’s great accomplishments, our team of teachers, aides, parents, and
therapists has grown tremendously. None of us would be where we are today without the
help of Linda and her staff and a lot of hard work together.” (See Appendix C.)
The Benhaven staff who were involved with Willie and his school saw that there were
other ways they could use their skills – ways to benefit many more people than they
could working in Benhaven’s School.
Background on Autism Spectrum Disorder:
The number of people affected by autism and pervasive developmental disorders is
growing. An article in Time magazine (April 29, 2002), reported that the number of
children diagnosed with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome in the U.S. is actually
exploding. “Not long ago, autism was assumed to be comparatively rare, affecting as few
as 1 in 10,000 people. The latest studies, however, suggest that as many as 1 in 150 kids
age 10 and younger may be affected by autism or a related disorder – a total of nearly
300,000 children in the U.S. alone. If you include adults, according to the Autism
Society of America, more than a million people in the U.S. suffer from one of the autistic
disorders (also known as pervasive developmental disorders). The problem is five times
as common as Down Syndrome and three times as common as juvenile diabetes.”
(emphasis added)
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Autism is a disorder of development that affects all aspects of the life of a child. Typical
characteristics include severe problems in communication, social skills, and behavior. A
description of problems associated with autism spectrum disorders is provided in
Appendix A. These problems always interfere, usually significantly, with being able to
benefit from a regular school program without significant support. Most school systems
struggle with keeping up with advances in the education of children with autism. A letter
written by Dr. Roger Frant, an official with the Connecticut Department of Education,
who specializes in autism, points out the difficulties school systems have in having
available those interventions that have shown themselves to be helpful for students with
autism (Appendix D). Many families of youngsters with autism are dissatisfied with the
services their children are receiving and frequently pressure school systems to achieve
better results.
Description of Benhaven, Inc.
Benhaven, Inc. is a nonprofit organization with ten locations in greater New Haven, CT.,
serving people with autism and pervasive developmental disorders. Founded in 1967 by
a mother of an autistic child, Benhaven initially provided educational services to autistic
children who were excluded from public school programs. Over the years and as this
population aged, Benhaven’s mission expanded to include residential services for school
age children, residential and employment services for adults and most recently, in-home
support to families with children with disabilities. In 2003, Benhaven has a $7.7 million
operating budget, employs 140 people, has 36 students enrolled in its school, has 30 adult
clients receiving work-related services and operates seven group homes. Benhaven also
provides family support to approximately 60 families in the New Haven area.
Just as the number of cases of autism and pervasive developmental disorders has grown,
the need for Benhaven’s services has also grown. The physical constraints of our
facilities limit the number of people we can serve directly. Through consulting we can
broaden our reach. The organization is known for responsive, high quality services, for
its serious commitment to customer satisfaction, and for striving to adhere to practices
that actually work well for people in a field where mediocrity and rigid bureaucracy are
endemic. Part of this commitment to what works best for people is exemplified, perhaps,
by starting this new venture: Benhaven’s Learning Network. This illustrates our
preference to develop capacity in others rather than simply growing larger to meet the
market demand.
Person-Centered Futures Planning
In the mid-1980’s, Benhaven adopted a “person-centered” approach to planning and
carrying out its services. This approach is outcome-based. It was adopted, in large part,
because of dissatisfaction with the limited improvement in the quality of life of the
people served by Benhaven. Even though great success could be pointed to in terms of
learning and improving behavior, the lifestyles of the people in Benhaven’s program
tended to be boring, isolated, and generally unsatisfactory. The person-centered approach
calls for those people who have a stake in the future of each person served by Benhaven
to work together to create a “positive vision” of what that person’s future might be.
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Rather than accepting the current reality as what to expect for the future, families and
staff were encouraged to imagine what might be possible for the person in the future, if
everything turned out as well as it might. This lead to a fundamental change in the way
Benhaven approached its services. The planning that took place began to result in goals
being set that were far different, in terms of lifestyles, than Benhaven was able to offer at
that time. Goals were established for students to attend their neighborhood public
schools rather than a “special school’ often many miles away from home. Goals called
for youngsters to be living with their families, who were receiving needed support, rather
than living in group homes far away from their families. Young adults were envisioned
working in jobs in community businesses rather than segregated from society in sheltered
workshops.
This led to a second theme that has become a hallmark of Benhaven. While retaining its
base of highly regarded school and residential programs, Benhaven began assessing what
supports each individual person would need in order to be successful in more normal
environments. Emphasis was now being given to helping people move from special
schools to circumstances having them receive the support required to be successful in
public school classrooms. Benhaven even tried to stop accepting new students into its
school. This effort ended when it became clear that public schools were not ready to
serve their autistic students. Rather than routinely developing a group home placement
for a youngster whose family was struggling, Benhaven began assessing what could be
done to provide support to the family at home. In many cases, this made a residential
placement unnecessary, or at least made the situation at home less urgent, so that
placement could be postponed. Both scenarios result in significant savings to the
government agencies that sponsor residential placements, since family support is much
less expensive to provide than a group home. Furthermore, as testimony to our
conviction to shift our services to the community, we closed our “sheltered workshop” in
1992. In 1988, Benhaven had a sheltered workshop where approximately 55 young
adults with autism worked. By following a four-year plan, almost all of these individuals
had jobs with community businesses, again with appropriate support.
Benhaven’s Mission and Its Challenges
This is Benhaven’s Mission Statement, which was written in 1988 and which continues to
guide Benhaven’s work to this day:
Benhaven will create the conditions that enable people with autism and
pervasive developmental disorders to:
 Participate in community life
 Exercise productive control over their own lives
 Have meaningful relationships and associations
 Be gainfully employed
 Experience happiness and personal satisfaction
When this statement was written, its focus was on the school, residential, and work
programs that comprised the range of services Benhaven had at the time. The fact was,
however, that, due to space limitations, Benhaven was able to accept fewer than half of
the students referred for its school program and a very small percentage (around 5%) of
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referrals for residential services. This meant that the visionary intentions of the mission
statement were available to fewer than 100 people. In the larger context of the increasing
number of children diagnosed with autism and pervasive developmental disorders,
Benhaven’s impact was actually quite modest.
Like many nonprofits, Benhaven has been financially challenged to provide high quality
services by hiring the best people and having the best resources and facilities. The
organization is highly dependent upon two State of Connecticut agencies for funding,
Department of Mental Retardation and Department of Children and Family Services.
The level of funding from these agencies has historically not covered costs, and recent
declines in state revenues have made a bad situation even worse. Benhaven’s Learning
Network will provide additional income as well as diversify the organization’s income
stream. Any profits should be available, first to stabilize the venture, then for the benefit
of the entire organization.
The personnel selected for this group are capable professionals with an array of important
skills and talents. It is likely that a number of these people would have left direct service
roles – and Benhaven – without the opportunity to move into consulting. It would be
difficult for a Benhaven to be able to retain such accomplished people without being able
to provide opportunities for professional advancement. Their new roles make it possible
for them to feel they are part of something that leads to increased effectiveness of others
(public school personnel) to make demonstrable changes in the lives of people, as well as
giving them an opportunity to work as part of a team with people of similar skills and
commitment. Also important is the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of
many, as opposed to just a few. Furthermore, embarking on this venture seems likely to
permit Benhaven to retain a pool of expertise that otherwise would be difficult, if not
impossible to afford.
BLN’s Work
Benhaven’s Learning Network offers three primary services:
 Consultation and ongoing support intended to help a school system’s capacity to
develop and provide high-quality educational programs to its students with autism
spectrum disorder.
 Staff development activities, including training and coaching, to support a school
system as it develops its capacity to provide high-quality educational program to
its students with autism spectrum disorder.
 Assessment and planning support for individual students in public schools whose
lack of progress and success due to the severity of their autism-related problems
can benefit from the involvement of expertise from outside the school system.
The venture has as a distinguishing characteristic direct involvement with school
personnel and the students.
Federal Law, the “'Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997”
(“IDEA”), is the enabling legislation governing special education. It was passed “to
ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free, appropriate public
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
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education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their
unique needs and prepare them for employment and independent living.” In practice, as
students with disabilities are identified, a Planning and Placement Team is assembled that
manages each individual’s education. It is fundamental to the process that most special
education takes place within the school district. Over the years, however, many students
with autism have been referred by the school districts to approved private special
education schools, such as Benhaven’s.
In Appendix E, a description of the types of autism-related expertise and competencies
Benhaven has and that BLN offers to public school systems is presented. Over the past
18 years, Benhaven has committed itself, as an organization, to learn and adopt only
those practices in the area of educating students with autism that seem the most
promising. Autism Spectrum Disorders is a subject of increasing interest, due to a drastic
increase in the incidence of people with the disorder. Considerable research is devoted
trying to understand autism. Over the years, many so-called therapies have been
promoted as being effective in ameliorating its devastating symptoms. Benhaven is
fortunate in having affiliations (both formal and informal) with a number of university
programs involved with autism, particularly the Child Study Center of Yale University.
These connections, as well a commitment by Benhaven’s leadership to be in the forefront
in the field of educating and treating children and adolescents with autism, have made it
possible for Benhaven to stay up-to-date with the best practices in the field.
BLN’s Development
The idea for setting up a consulting group originated with the prospective customers.
One of our core programs is a private school for children and adolescents with autism
who have been “outplaced” by their school districts. Since 1988, Benhaven’s school
program has a goal to return as many students as possible to their local school districts. It
is our fundamental belief that children and adolescents with autism can be most
successfully and least expensively served in public schools, provided that the schools
have the expertise, as well as the commitment, to provide the support that such
individuals need. Outplacement of students into private schools (such as Benhaven’s
school) can cost a school system over $100,000 per student per year, including
transportation. Some school systems, for one reason or another are choosing to use their
resources more wisely.
Benhaven initially offered consultative assistance to help students return to their home
school district without charging for it, since it fit Benhaven’s core mission, as well as
some of the agency’s strategic goals. As awareness of what Benhaven was trying to do
spread through the informal network of special education administrators of area school
districts, requests for such assistance began to come from districts that had not placed
students at Benhaven’s school. At that point, Benhaven began to charge a modest fee for
personnel from Benhaven’s school to consult with districts. Since the Benhaven staff
who were trying to provide assistance to the public school retained their responsibilities
for running the school, which were quite demanding, requests for intensive and ongoing
consultative support had to be turned down.
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By early 2002, it was clear that Benhaven needed to separate its school program from the
work in the public schools. Three staff gave up their school duties and began to work
full-time with the consulting practice. The overwhelming demand for their services led
to the decision by Benhaven’s administration and its Board of Directors to create a new
entity and to support its development and success.
Key BLN Personnel
At the center of the consulting practice are two key individuals:
The first is Linda Grimm, formerly the Director of Benhaven’s Educational Services and
principal of the school, who has taken on the role of the full-time manager of the
consulting group. Ms. Grimm has put together a group of consultants, partially from
Benhaven’s school staff. Three people from outside the school were also recruited
The second key individual is Janette Johnson, who has worked as a consultant for many
years. Ms. Johnson was recruited to Benhaven in 1992 and has worked as a public
consultant though still a salaried Benhaven employee. This unique position enabled Ms.
Johnson to counsel with government and private agencies around Connecticut, while
remaining available as a resource to Benhaven. Ms. Johnson is possibly the most highly
regarded consultant on autism spectrum disorders in Connecticut. Ms. Johnson has been
given the title of Lead Consultant for the group. Ms. Johnson will use this role to help
the other consultants be more effective and to assist with particularly difficult clinical
issues.
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Market Analysis
Benhaven’s Learning Network was developed in response to requests from members of
what is now its target market. There are 169 school districts in Connecticut. Benhaven,
during this past year, has been contracted for services or has received requests for
services from at least 51 of them or 30% of all CT school districts. The best information
available from the State Department of Education suggests that as of 2001 there are 1,700
students with autism in Connecticut. As with all students with disabilities, each of these
students under IDEA is entitled to a “free appropriate public education”. The form this
appropriate education takes is determined by Planning and Placement Teams formed
under the auspices of each School District’s Pupil Services Department (“Special
Education”.) Our target market therefore is the Pupil Services Departments responsible
for the 1,700 students with autism in Connecticut.
A survey was conducted to determine certain information related to the potential market.
The survey form is Appendix F. Of the 40 district administrators contacted, 11
completed the survey, 9 declined to complete it, and the other 20 did not respond. The
results of the survey were inconclusive. However, several themes were evident that seem
to be consistent with some of our assumptions about BLN’s future. For example, the age
range of students with autism for most of the respondents began in preschool and ended
at the beginning of high school. Statewide data clearly shows this and it illustrates the
future demand for services for older students with autism as the current students age.
BLN is preparing itself for this by bringing two consultants aboard in Year Two who
have many years of experience with helping young adults with autism in the areas of
securing appropriate employment and learning to use community resources.
The survey respondents also had the common goal of integrating students with autism
into mainstream education programs as well as trying to keep their services and students
in their home districts. This was one of the purposes Benhaven had when it created BLN.
One of the survey items called for an opinion about expected changes in special
education budgets in the next 3-5 years. Three of the eleven respondent indicated that
they expected spending on educating students with autism and other disabilities to
increase during that period. Two of the respondents indicated that budgets would be cut.
Two indicated that budgets would remain relatively unchanged. Two responded that
students with autism would likely receive a greater share of the budget, at the expense of
others in the school system. One expected to bring students back to the district schools
from private schools in order to save money. One other respondent expected that the
same amount of money would be spent, but with a shift of resources to pay for
consultants coming into districts to train staff.
Industry Experts
In order to validate our sense of market demand, we rely on our own experience and
observations by Stacy Hultgren, Co-Director of the Connecticut Autism Spectrum
Resource Center and Dr. Roger Frant, Educational Resource Consultant with the
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Connecticut State Department of Education (“SDE”). We met separately with Ms.
Hultgren and Dr. Frant.
First, Ms Hultgren. When asked how many of the 169 districts would be able to provide
appropriate educational services for their students with autism without assistance from a
resource offering services similar to those offered by Benhaven’s Learning Network, she
responded, “None of them.” In Ms. Hultgren’s statement (Appendix G), she offers the
following:
 School systems desperately need assistance for their students with autism
spectrum disorder.
 Public school staff have not been prepared by their teacher preparation programs
to know how to plan and carry out appropriate services.
 Public schools have difficulty arranging such training on an in-service basis.
 Training that is offered by public schools is generally of a “one-shot” nature that,
in the long run, is usually not particularly helpful.
 On-site consultation, such as that offered by BLN, provides districts the
immediate access to expertise they need (and that parents are demanding), while
making available a systematic, long-term strategy for building real capacity
within the system.
 The fact that BLN’s consultants have teaching and administrative backgrounds
and approach their work as collaborators has led to the high demand that exists for
their services.
Second, Dr. Frant. The interest in BLN exists without pressure from the Connecticut
State Department of Education (SDE), states Roger Frant, an official who specializes in
autism. His office is not in a position to push districts to meet certain standards related to
autism because the standards currently in place are too vague to enforce. The statutes and
regulations pertaining to special education are for the general population.
It is his view that a district requesting BLN’s services is prompted by one of three
reasons:
 The district really wants to provide excellent services.
 The district has students with serious problems for which they were seeking
outside consultation because the district’s staff has limited experience or limited
resources to deal with the problem.
 One or more parents were putting pressure on the system, through the due process
established by existing regulations, to develop appropriate programs for their
child or children.
Dr. Frant reports that the next year or two will see a significant effort on the part of SDE
to raise the standards related to educational services for students with autism. At that
point, he expects greater pressure on the districts to improve their services for students
with autism. At the same time, Dr. Frant indicates that he hears many reports of
frustration with public school systems’ ability to recruit and train staff with the expertise
required for students with autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Frant feels that considerable
attention will be devoted to the issues related to the increased number of students with
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autism in the public schools. The challenge, which he feels will be difficult, but doable,
will be to raise standards for programs and staff while going through a downturn in the
national and state economy. The key will be to spend funds wisely in ways that yield
good results.
Dr. Frant also provided data on the stunning increase in the number of students with
autism in publicly funded educational programs. Dr. Frant explained that in 1991, there
were 151 students in Connecticut diagnosed with autism and that in 2001, there were
almost 1700 students diagnosed with autism (see Appendix H). This higher incidence,
the cause of which is not known, is a national and international phenomenon. In the
recent past, autism was estimated to occur in 3 out of 10,000 people in the general
population. Incidence of autism is now thought to be about 3 in 1,000 people. This
increase is likely to place increased pressure on school systems to find affordable ways to
serve their students. These data also point to a huge increase in the numbers of teenagers
with autism who will start needing “transitional services” (school to work) over the next
five years (See Appendix I). These services, which are intended to prepare students for
work and life as adults in the community, have traditionally been quite weak for students
with autism. Two of the consultants BLN intends to add in Year Two both specialize in
school-to-work transition.
School systems generally are seeking services such as those offered by BLN for one of
more of several reasons:
 The school system may have one or several students whose needs are beyond
their expertise to provide an appropriate education. The severity of their autismrelated problems may greatly interfere with educational progress for some
students. One option school systems have is to look to make a placement out of
the district in a private school. Another option is to secure some outside expertise
to assess a student’s needs and make recommendations for an appropriate
educational plan.

The school system may have one or several families of students who are
criticizing district personnel for lacking expertise or follow-through on
commitments that had been made. A very practical benefit many school districts
have found with BLN’s services is improved relationships with families.
Unfortunately, it is the case that special education, in general, is fraught with
conflict between school systems and parents of students. This is particularly true
with parents of students with autism. Much is still unknown and uncertain about
autism. Remediation approaches and teaching strategies are constantly evolving.
The field is also one, for some reason, that seems to inspire many new ideas,
ranging from some which are grounded in sound practices developed in other
fields, (e.g., psychology, psychiatry, occupational therapy) to others from the
fringes of alternative medicine and psychotherapy. School district personnel
cannot keep up with the latest information and ideas. Parents, however, often do.
It is quite common for parents to be asking for something they feel might be
helpful for their child that people in the school district have never even heard of,
let alone feel prepared to use or even discuss. The BLN consultants are able to
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
12
remain up to date on such developments and can collaborate with both district
personnel and parents to work together as a team to make informed decisions
about which approaches might hold promise for a particular student.

The school system may have incentives to improve its capacity to meet the needs
of its autistic students with its internal resources. Some school systems give clear
evidence that they truly want to provide appropriate and effective educational
services to its students with autism. The option of sending a student out of the
district’s schools to a private school specializing in autism can be very expensive.
The annual tuition at Benhaven’s school, for example, is over $66,000 per year.
Transportation costs are also considerable, adding as much as $70,000 per year to
the annual cost. There are other negative aspects to outplacement. Private
schools serve relatively homogeneous populations, therefore offering few if any
good role models and appropriate peers for students. Another concern is that
sending the student out of the district to attend a private school removes the
student from his or her own community, making it difficult to develop or maintain
connections with people and resources in the community. This tends to make it
more difficult for the student to ever return to be able to take full advantage of the
community in the future. This is especially unfortunate, since participating in
community life is the context for most of a student’s desirable ultimate outcomes
of his or her educational career. – being employed, shopping, enjoying leisuretime activities with friends, etc.
While reliable figures for what is being spent to educate students with autism in
Connecticut are not available, the annual amount is certainly in the tens of millions of
dollars. Benhaven’s budget for its school with only 35 students is over $2,000,000.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
13
Industry Analysis / Competitive Analysis
The biggest competitors to BLN are the school districts of Connecticut, or the potential
clients, themselves. There is a tendency for many districts to use their own internal
resources, even though they are failing and not meeting the educational needs of students
with autism. With considerable urging, generally from parents, these districts will use
outside consultants. Taken in this context, Benhaven’s Learning Network’s objective to
build capacity while treating individual students avoids a potential conflict of interest
with the targeted client base.
At this time, in addition to Benhaven’s Learning Network, there are three other
consulting groups in Connecticut focusing on public school students with autism. All
three groups are smaller than Benhaven’s current group. Among BLN’s distinguishing
characteristics is the range of services provided as well as its availability for ongoing indistrict technical support.
The range of services sought by a school system includes the following:
1. Independent assessment of students.
2. Staff in-service training and workshops on autism spectrum disorder, educational
interventions, transition planning, and curriculum modification and design.
3. Program development for individual students.
4. Support to classroom teachers.
5. Consultation on administrative issues, aimed at building system capacity.
While BLN offers the full range of services, none of the four groups, including BLN, has
chosen to specialize in all five areas. Two of the groups, both led by individuals well
known in the field of education for students with autism, focus primarily on independent
assessments and large-scale training. The third group focuses primarily on program
development for individual students with support to classroom teachers. BLN focuses on
program development for individual students, coupled with considerable support to
classroom teachers and consultation on administrative issues associated with building the
capacities of the school systems.
BLN will provide in-service training to school system personnel, but usually only as a
component of a larger “system-change” effort accompanied by individualized, ongoing
support focusing on both students and staff. As will be described below we call our
preferred engagement “Ongoing, Comprehensive Support to School Systems”.
BLN steers away from accepting requests for independent assessments of students,
particularly in cases where there is a dispute between a family and the school district.
Such a situation does not usually have the stage set for serious system-change and staff
learning.
All four groups report that they are receiving more requests for services than they can
accept. This has allowed each group to establish its own niche. The groups all have at
least some personnel that are highly regarded, but one of the groups has the reputation
that a few of the personnel are skilled and effective, while the others are not.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
14
The total amount of money spent by Connecticut school systems on consultants for their
students with autism is not being tracked well. Our educated guess is that between two
and three million dollars per year is currently being spent on consultants to school
systems related to educational services for students with autism. Based upon requests for
services, many of which cannot be accepted at this time since the existing consultants are
fully booked, this expenditure is like to increase substantially as the industry grows to
meet the current demand. This demand is expected to increase.
Benhaven’s group is the only one of the four that is part of a non-profit agency. The
other three are all for-profit entities. Two of the groups, the two led by well-known
figures in the field with Ph.D.’s and publications to their credit, are the high cost
providers, with rates of $2,000 per day or more. The third group, which is more focused
on classroom work, uses a rate comparable to Benhaven’s. The hourly price of a
consultant, at this point, does not appear to be a major factor in prospective customers’
decisions about which group to use, although affordability is certainly a factor in a
district’s decision about whether or not to use a consultant at all.
Group
A
Group
B
Group
C
BLN
Comparison of Private Educational Consultants
Specializing in Autism in Connecticut
#
Price
Services Offered
Consultants
4
Up to
Student assessments, observations and
$300 per
recommendations
hour
2
$2,000
Observations and recommendations, curriculum
per day
design
6
$80 Contracted direct support to students, informal
$120 per
assessment, program development
hour
7
$110 per
Comprehensive support to schools and school
hour
systems, including program development, staff
training, and mentoring for teachers and
administrators
Using one of the two higher priced groups can actually be less expensive for a school
district. Both groups tend to contract for a certain number of hours to review records,
meet with families and staff, and conduct some observations before writing a report with
recommendations. School systems whose incentives for contracting with a consultant
can be met by a written report will generally be satisfied by either group, since they both
have outstanding reputations. The system will receive a report with recommendations
from highly qualified professionals. Often, however, such a report will not remedy the
concern that caused the school system to seek an outside resource. They will not
necessarily be able to follow through on the recommendations and ongoing assistance to
the classroom teachers is generally not provided. The other, lower-priced, group can
place its personnel in classrooms (unlike the other two groups), which is sometimes very
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
15
important in a situation where the school staff are having serious difficulty with a
particular student. This group can conduct its own informal assessment and, based on
that, can develop educational and behavioral interventions and demonstrate them to the
school staff and eventually, if all goes as planned, reduce their presence as the school
staff take over. The focus is getting educational plans implemented, but not on helping
the system develop its own capacity.
Benhaven also uses direct intervention approach, but with other components. All BLN
personnel have been selected for their qualifications, including technical expertise,
training and communication skills, and experience with developing effective teams.
Ongoing, Comprehensive Support to School Systems
BLN’s core work is in providing ongoing, comprehensive support to schools and school
systems, although it is also available to respond to requests for other types of services,
particularly program assessment services and person-centered planning services. Staff
training for school systems, which is relatively easy for BLN personnel to provide, is not
a high priority for BLN, unless it is part of the more comprehensive support to the
system. Some requests for training are accepted by BLN if a consultant is available, but
many requests are not accepted because BLN personnel are busy working on projects
more likely to lead to positive outcomes for individual students. One of the benefits of
providing training, however, is that it does expose school system personnel to
information and ideas that they might not get otherwise. One of those ideas is that the
system could benefit by ongoing comprehensive support and technical assistance.
Benhaven perceives no barrier to its entrance into this market. BLN is already being
sought out by many school systems. The two consultant groups at the high end of the
industry have accepted BLN’s consultants collegially. These two groups prefer not to
provide ongoing follow-up support to schools after they have delivered their reports.
Both groups have already recommended BLN to school districts for that role.
It is likely that other competitors will enter the market, particularly since there is so much
publicity regarding the increase in the number of students with autism. We believe that
the segment of the market we are most interested in, those districts that can commit to
systematic improvement over time, will appreciate those characteristics of BLN that
make the consultant/client relationship successful. In addition to expertise in current best
practices, our customers appreciate that we work directly with teachers, actually getting
the knowledge into the classrooms. We get a great deal of very positive feedback on our
hands-on approach. We feel we are building extremely strong customer loyalty based on
results, price, and style.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
16
Marketing Plan
BLN’s Services
Benhaven’s Learning Network offers a variety of services to school systems that can help
them be better able to meet the needs of their autistic students. These services include 1)
assessment and program development for individual students, 2) staff development
activities, including training and coaching, and 3) comprehensive consultation and
ongoing support to the system. The comprehensive approach often includes carrying out
individual student assessment and program development as well as staff training
activities, but there are carried out in the context of the school system developing its
internal capacity to meet the needs of its autistic students.
Below are the services that may make up the comprehensive support:
 Student assessments
 Recommendations for student programs based on observations
 Mentoring teachers
 Direct teaching for the purpose of modeling
 In-service training for teachers and administrators
 Training for paraprofessionals
 Team building and team facilitation
 Family support
 Serving as liaison to family (useful when communication has broken down)
 Modifying curriculum
 Team/program leadership
 Others as needed
Ongoing, Comprehensive Support to School Systems
There are many reasons why this approach to services has become the core of BLN’s
business:
 It is ongoing. Contracts are generally for a school year.
 The benefits of the involvement are generally school-wide or even system-wide.
The goals of the consultation are related to building system capacity.
 It covers all areas in which the system may have needs (within the scope of
educational services to students with autism): student assessment, program
development for individual students, staff development, ongoing support and
technical assistance to district personnel, support to the administration, and
relationships with and assistance to parents.
Key outcomes that schools systems are seeking:
 A Functional Behavioral Analysis of Problem Behavior – called for by law
 A Behavioral Support Plan
 A Futures Plan
 A successfully functioning team
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
17





A curriculum that has been developed and modified so it is appropriate for a
student
A student with ASD successfully “included” in a class of typical peers
Development of schedules, protocols, processes, and procedures
Locating or developing appropriate teaching materials
A satisfied family
There are several benefits to focusing on the ongoing, comprehensive support to school
systems. Consultants who are serving in this role have been averaging 10 hours per week
in each system. This gives some stability and reliability to the work hours of the
consultant. If each consultant was serving in this role for one district, that would provide
half of the billable hours per week that have been targeted for each consultant. Some
consultants are in this role for more than one system. School systems that contract with
BLN for these comprehensive services are committed and eager to address their issues.
One of the requirements that BLN has in these relationships is to have an “internal
partner” identified. This is typically an administrator who has authority to hold people
accountable and to work out solutions to problems. Without such a partner, success
would be much less likely. A major benefit in these situations for the consultants is that
they get to see positive effects coming out of their involvement. This is often not the case
when their involvement has them going into a school for a month or two (several hours
per week) to make some recommendations and then see them not followed and perhaps
even not understood.
Price
BLN has priced its services at the low end of the industry - $110 per hour in the current
year. At full capacity, this will be adequate to cover costs and yield a profit to support
the agency’s core mission. A significant factor in deciding the price was to keep it low
enough to encourage ongoing involvement with a district to allow for the goals of the
consultation to be met. Since BLN wants to emphasize the ongoing, comprehensive
services, it is likely that the price for BL’s services that are not part of a comprehensive
approach will likely be higher than what is charged for the ongoing, comprehensive
relationship. This rate was set with the intention to make it easier for school systems to
utilize BLN’s comprehensive consultation services and ongoing support over the long
term. Our preference is to work with those districts that are committed to provide high
quality educational services to its students with autism. BLN has declined some requests
for services based on a sense that some districts were looking for a “quick fix” to their
problems when such an intervention did not exist.
Sales Strategy/Communication Plan:
Maintaining a high profile within State of Connecticut professional groups is one strategy
we are using to promote our business. Several of the BLN consultants are often asked to
give presentations at statewide and regional conferences on educational services for
students with autism. This is very important, since many districts are not even aware of
what capacities and information they are lacking. For example, the Connecticut
Department of Education operates the Special Education Resource Center, which
provides training and professional development programs for all special education
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
18
teachers in the state. During July 2002, the entire cadre of BLN consultants gave a
weeklong workshop on educating students with autism for representatives of school
systems from around the state. The Managing Consultant of BLN offered to present this
workshop without charge, sensing that it would be an effective way of making the service
known to and, to a degree, experienced by prospective customers. The workshop was
very successful and resulted in follow-up calls from several of the participating districts.
Once contacted by a prospective school district, the Managing Consultant often spends
four to six hours determining if a request for services will be accepted. She spends time
observing in the school and speaking with key school personnel and parents. She also
conducts a records review. The school districts are not charged for her time. If she
doesn’t feel BLN can help, she will say so. If she feels that the school district needs a
different type of assistance than they are requesting, she will let them know about that, as
well. Many school districts seem to find this style unusual, but appealing. A critical
aspect of Benhaven’s “strategy” is a sense of values held by all BLN personnel. BLN
staff approach their work with respect for and a commitment to work constructively with
district personnel. They start by helping school personnel identify their problems and
start working with the system from there.
BLN is relying primarily on word-of-mouth and customer satisfaction to promote its
business. Capacity to provide consulting support is the limiting factor at present, rather
than demand. Special education administrators and teachers have an active informal
network with each other. State Department of Education officials will also recommend
BLN to those districts they feel would benefit from what Benhaven has to offer. Parent
organizations also recommend BLN. While Benhaven does not accept requests for
services directly from parents, the parents are given information about what services are
available and such a contact can lead to a request from a school district.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
19
Management Plan
Benhaven’s Learning Network will be one of three principal operating entities of
Benhaven, Inc. and its organizational structure is currently in place and is as follows:
 Larry Wood, Executive Director
Reporting:
 Stephen Simonson, Director of Residential Services
 Karen Stevens, Director of Educational Services
 Linda Grimm, Director & Managing Consultant of Benhaven’s Learning Network
 Joseph Spiteri, Business Manager
Each area of Benhaven is given considerable autonomy for managing its own operations.
While there is central accountability on a number of issues, including policies, managing
within budgets, and meeting programmatic expectations, each of the areas does its own
hiring, purchasing and other tasks directly related to its business. The Executive Director
and the Business Office personnel assist with such activities as appropriate and monitor
performance through information management systems and intervene when necessary.
BLN will carry its share of Benhaven’s cost for administrative overhead. This overhead
cost is allocated among the various major cost centers based on each center’s share of
overall expenses. Benhaven’s financial statements will include the financial information
related to BLN. The position of BLN as a part of Benhaven permits the parent
organization to take care of such concerns as covering start-up costs and maintaining
working capital.
As an integral part of Benhaven, BLN falls under the governance of Benhaven’s Board of
Directors. Larry Wood, Benhaven’s Executive Director, reports to the Board of Directors
on all aspects of Benhaven. In addition, Mr. Wood arranges for each of the area
directors, as well as several other key members of the staff, to make a presentation to the
Board of Directors and answer questions approximately once per year.
Managing Consultant
Linda Grimm has been named Managing Consultant of Benhaven’s Learning Network.
As the former Director of Benhaven’s Education Services and Principal of the School,
Linda Grimm has been a major factor in bringing Benhaven to its leadership position in
the field of services for individuals with autism. Ms. Grimm is skilled in both education
and administration and is a very effective leader. Prior to her assuming her full-time role
with BLN, Ms. Grimm built capable and committed staff at Benhaven’s school. She has
done the same for BLN. As an administrator, Ms. Grimm is known to handle both
routine and complex duties with grace and good humor. She operates her programs
within budget. A further distinguishing characteristic is that Ms. Grimm has extremely
good relationships with the special education administrators throughout Connecticut and
with officials within the State Department of Education.
Ms. Grimm will have full responsibility for hiring, training, and supervising all
consultants of BLN, at least for the first two years. If the number of consultants
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
20
employed increases to 13, as we project in the third year, consideration will be given to
making changes in the management structure at that time. It would seem to be a natural
step to identify two additional managers, probably from within the ranks of the existing
consultants, to take on what might be called “supervising consultant” roles, i.e., each
managing a team of consultants. For the immediate future, however, Ms. Grimm will be
the sole administrative leader of the group.
Ms. Grimm’s role will include:
 Selecting which requests for services to accept.
 Assigning consultants.
 Monitoring customer satisfaction.
 Professional development activities for staff.
 Financial oversight.
Ms. Grimm has authority to make all operational decisions on her own. Her history has
been that she handles this responsibility very effectively, conferring with others as
appropriate. Ms. Grimm is quite aware that some decisions and issues will require the
attention of Larry Wood, Executive Director of Benhaven. Areas where this would likely
be the case include Benhaven policy, potentially negative publicity, legal questions, and
issues related to long-term planning for the group.
Ms. Grimm also has a long history of working with Benhaven’s Business Office. This
office serves a resource to all of Benhaven, handling personnel, benefits, payroll, billing,
accounts payable, internal financial accounting and cost reports, purchase of capital
equipment, and other administrative matters inherent in operating an enterprise with 140
full-time employees in ten locations.
Larry Wood, Benhaven’s Executive Director, has been a strong advocate for the creation
of Benhaven’s Learning Network and will provide any support necessary to make it
successful.
Benhaven’s Board of Directors is also very supportive of the new enterprise. In June
2002, the Board of Directors voted to commit up to $60,000 to support it through its first
year. This money is available on an “as needed” basis. It is intended that funds be used
to allow the Managing Consultant and the Lead Consultant time to be “rainmakers” as
well as managers of BLN. Mr. Wood pointed out his concern to the Board that he sensed
a tendency on the part of BLN’s Director and Lead Consultant to make sure they took in
enough consulting work to generate enough income to cover the expenses of the
enterprise. This would pull them away from the critical duties they have in managing the
enterprise and supporting the staff. It would be best to avoid this pressure, so the group
could get off to a solid start. The Board of Directors was in full agreement.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
21
Business Operations
Objectives:
1. To provide 6,500 paid hours of consultation and ongoing support during the first
year of operation (July 1, 2002 through June 30, 2003).
2. To provide 9,565 paid hours of consultation and ongoing support during the
second year of operation (July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004).
3. To provide 13,660 paid hours of consultation and ongoing support during the
third year of operation (July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004).
As has been stated above, the Managing Consultant has some key responsibilities for the
venture, including selecting which requests for services to accept and assigning
consultants.
Process for Considering New Requests for Services and Assigning Consultants
The Managing Consultant:
1. Receives a request for BLN services from a public school administrator.
2. Visits the school to speak to school staff, observe the program(s) or student(s) for
which assistance is being sought.
3. As appropriate, reviews school records and speaks to parents.
4. After gathering available information, makes a determination regarding the
likelihood that BLN personnel can provide what the district needs.
5. If it is determined that BLN personnel are likely to be helpful, considers if it is
possible to make a tentative assignment of a consultant.
6. If a consultant is available to take the project, prepares a proposal and presents it
to the school district administrator.
7. The proposal forms the basis of a discussion to work out a written agreement for
services.
An example of a “Proposal for Services” (Appendix J) and an “Agreement for Services”
(Appendix K) can be found in the Appendix section.
At this early point in BLN’s development, the Managing Consultant does not charge the
customer for the time spent assessing the feasibility of accepting the case. There are no
plans to change this.
Factors Considered in Assigning a Consultant to a Project
1. A consultant with the appropriate skill match has time available, or will soon.
2. If more than one consultant with the appropriate skill match has time available,
the assignment would likely be made on the basis of location. The Managing
Consultant tries to cluster each consultant’s projects regionally, in an effort to
avoid the consultant having to work in one school in the morning and then travel
to another corner of the state to another school for the afternoon.
3. If the project appears particularly difficult or if the consultant most available lacks
experience or some skills that would be important in the project, a second
consultant with complementary experience or skills may be paired with the
primary consultant. This makes it more likely that the goals of the project and
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
22
satisfaction of the customer will be met. It also permits consultants to learn from
each other. Some projects call for more than more than one consultant. In those
cases, the district is charged for all time spent on the project. When a second
consultant is brought in to supplement the skills of the primary consultant,
however, the district typically is not charged for the time of the second consultant.
The services are provided by one or more consultants who are assigned to the school
system for specific purposes and, usually, for specific amounts of time. The Managing
Consultant considers all requests for services from school districts and makes a
determination regarding BLN’s involvement. If the Managing Consultant makes a
determination that BLN can help the system and has a consultant available, she submits a
proposal. This proposal is then used as a framework for negotiating an agreement for
services. While services are being provided, the Managing Consultant supervises the
assigned consultant and monitors the quality of the work and customer satisfaction.
A number of steps have been taken to support the efficiency and effectiveness of the
enterprise:
 A 1,700 square feet space was leased in an attractive and functional office
building near the central part of the state, very convenient to Connecticut’s
highways. This space will be adequate during the three years covered by this plan
and, likely, into the foreseeable future.
 The office space was set up with individual workspaces and a combination
conference room/resource library.
 Each consultant was issued a laptop computer (with e-mail) and a cell phone.
This makes it possible for consultants, as they travel around the state, to stay in
touch with the rest of the group. It also permits them to work from home on
reports and have telephone conferences, as appropriate.
 The administrative assistant developed an effective system for recording billable
hours for each consultant. This permits efficient electronic transfer of information
to the Business Office for billing purposes. It is also a convenient method for the
Managing Consultant to monitor the work time of each of the consultants.
 The group sets aside a two-hour block for meeting together every three weeks to
review current assignments and discuss other issues.
Being part of Benhaven, Inc. automatically gives business structure to the enterprise, as
they do not need to duplicate “back office” operations. Management structure has
already been addressed. The Executive Director, with oversight by the Board of
Directors will monitor Benhaven’s Learning Network for adherence to this business plan.
Staffing Plan
For the first year, Benhaven’s Learning Network was budgeted to have seven full-time
employees: the Managing Consultant, the Lead Consultant, four Consultants, and an
Administrative Assistant. In response to high demand for services, a fifth full-time
consultant was added in December 2002. This fifth consultant is a social worker/family
therapist. Some school districts are now sponsoring direct support to families in the
home. BLN has the rare capacity to provide this. In the second year, it is anticipated that
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
23
three additional consultants will be added to the group. For the third year, it is
anticipated that three additional consultants will be added to the group, making a total of
13 consultants, including the Managing Consultant and the Lead Consultant. It is also
likely, at that time, that two consultants will be appointed “supervising consultants” and
take on supervisory roles with the other consultants.
For someone to be hired as a consultant by BLN, several qualifications and
characteristics must be in place. The person must have substantial experience as a
teacher of students with autism. Related to this, the person would need to be well versed
in current approaches to working with students with autism to help them learn. Evidence
of both of these is necessary to even be considered. Beyond that, the Managing
Consultant would be looking for people who appear to have genuine enthusiasm for
sharing their expertise and working hard to build capacity in others. Skills in written and
oral communication are a must, as well as being the kind of person who can work
effectively as a member of team. Some specific skills of being an effective consultant
can be learned, but these other personal characteristics must be in place.
The Managing Consultant is insisting that she will be very careful about whom she adds
to the group. Fortunately, two of the people who will be added to the group in “Year
Two” have already been selected. School systems are reporting a critical need for
assistance in setting up appropriate services for older teenagers with autism. Benhaven
has two individuals on staff with extensive experience with young adults with autism,
with a focus on employment. Both individuals have agreed to transfer to BLN from other
assignments within Benhaven by July 2003.
Currently, the consulting personnel are paid between $60,000 and $95,000 per year. This
range is much higher than the pay scales for the rest of Benhaven and appears to be
adequate for recruiting. The difficulty will likely be finding qualified people to meet our
high standards.
Training
Staff training will occur in the context of formal professional development plans.
Professional development plans are developed in areas of identified needs and areas
related to professional goals for the future. In the first few years, it will be the
responsibility of the Managing Consultant to have areas of performance needing
improvement identified and strategies for addressing them in place and followed.
Likewise, each consultant should have the benefit of an experienced supervisor/mentor
responsible for working with them to identify some professional goals and supporting
their efforts to achieve them. This approach is in place for all of Benhaven’s employees.
As in the case of salaries, the amount of money budgeted for professional development
for people with Benhaven’s Learning Network is higher, per person, than it is for the rest
of Benhaven.
The Managing Consultant has developed a questionnaire (Appendix L) that is sent out to
school districts at the end of projects or, in the case of long term consultation,
periodically during the year. The purpose of this form is to give the various customers a
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
24
convenient way to offer constructive feedback on the consultation, as well as the
consultant.
The feedback on the individual consultant that suggests opportunities for improvement is
part of the data that is used to set professional development goals.
For most of Benhaven’s employees, resources for developing professionally are available
within the organization. BLN personnel, for example, serve as trainers for the rest of
Benhaven. However, the technical nature of the work of BLN personnel makes it
necessary for them to attend many professional conferences and workshops. Appendix
M is a list of conferences and workshops attended by BLN personnel since July 2002.
Research and Development
Part of the Managing Consultant’s role is to stay in contact with administrators in the
various districts that are using, or have used, the services of BLN. One of the purposes
served by this is to gather information about the customers’ satisfaction, as well as to find
out if any additional unmet needs have emerged. The Managing Consultant will use this
information to plan improvements in the existing service or perhaps consider adding
additional services.
In addition, the Managing Consultant is responsible for organizing professional
development activities for all BLN personnel. Such activities include “study groups” for
the staff that will explore in depth emerging practices in the field. This allows structured
time away from the daily responsibilities while giving the consultants opportunities to
remain current with developments in the field. As appropriate, school district personnel
and even parents may be invited to participate in these study groups.
Performance Milestones
1. Consultants
a. BLN will have four full-time consultants, in addition to the Managing and
Lead Consultant, in place for the entire first year.
b. BLN will have nine full-time consultants, in addition to the Managing and
Lead Consultant, in place for the entire second year.
c. BLN will have eleven full-time consultants, in addition to the Managing
and Lead Consultant, in place for the entire third year.
2. Billable Hours/Consultant: Each consultant, including the Managing Consultant
and the Lead Consultant, will meet the number of billable hours established for
them as the optimal number of average billable hours per month (neither too
many less or too many more).
3. Customer Satisfaction:
Customers will be surveyed for their feedback on a regular basis and two
measures related to customer satisfaction may provide useful performance
milestones. Measures that can both track customer satisfaction and, at the
same time, help gauge the feasibility of the business advertising/promotion
strategies is tracking repeat business with individual school systems and new
school systems requesting services based on the recommendation of others.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
25
Repeat business with the same school system is very important; since that may
signify that the district feels it is getting its money’s worth and wishes to
continue “investing in its future,” perhaps in other schools within the district.
a. The group will receive requests for additional services (for a different
purpose, in a different setting, or at least for a different student) from 50%
of the school systems that contract for services.
b. The group will receive five requests for services in year two from school
systems who have had BLN’s services recommended by another school
district.
Note:
Through the first eight months of the current budget year, BLN has exceeded its targets
for revenues. Growth is limited by the availability of consultants rather than lack of
demand. A fifth consultant was added in December 2002. The group is on track to
surpass the goal of 6500 hours by at least several hundred hours. The Lead Consultant
and the Managing Consultant are comfortably ahead of their targets. The two consultants
who were hired in July 2002 took longer than expected to reach their optimal level of
billed hours per month (82.5). The two consultants who were already in place (former
Benhaven teachers) have been right at their targeted levels consistently, as had the
consultant who switched over from the school in December
In addition to billable hours, we had several other variables we wanted to track, since
they have the potential to serious affect the budgetary assumptions that were made. On
balance, the record is quite positive.
 The 30-day payment interval is holding.
 The predicted monthly pattern of seasonal variation in billed consulting hours is
holding up reasonably well. It has not been quite as drastic as expected, but the
peaks and valleys are evident.
 With the additional consultant, revenue projections for the fiscal year have
increased from $715,000 to $746,000.
 Non-personnel expenses are running about 3% below what was budgeted.
We knew when the venture began that we preferred to have ongoing contracts with
school districts that were serious about using what we had to offer in a comprehensive
way. We knew we preferred long-term, stable relationships. We have now learned that
there are several practical benefits to having such relationships with districts. The
stability and regularity of work with their client districts has made scheduling much
simpler. It has also led to some very satisfied customers. What we now consider BLN’s
core business, ongoing comprehensive support to school systems, involves a steady,
reliable source of high-volume work (averaging 10 hours per week) for the consultants.
BLN has 8 such contracts during the current year. As of this writing, March 2003, 11
contracts are in place for the following school year, with several more likely. A
consultant with two such client districts, would be essentially booked for the year. It will
be interesting to monitor this unexpected development and the effects it may have on the
growth of the venture.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
26
Financial Plan
The financial plan shows the expected operating revenue and expenses, cash-flow
patterns, application of non-operating funds, and sensitivity to variations in projected
levels of revenue and staffing. Detailed financial statements can be found in Appendix O
and Appendix P.
Business Milestones:
1. Achieving financial breakeven in the first year with a subsidy of up to
$60,000 from Benhaven.
2. Achieving financial breakeven without subsidy from the parent
organization in year two. .
3. Generating a surplus (revenues over expenses) of $100,000 to the
parent organization in year three.
Pro Forma Income Statements
An operating loss of ($60,000) is projected in the first year, followed by break-even year.
An operating surplus of $98,000 is projected for the third year. The first year deficit
assumes relatively conservative service hours for the first year, along with the costs for
support staff and occupancy, which can remain relatively fixed as service hours are
increased in future years. Service hour projections are increased modestly over the
following two years, as increased exposure, repeat business, greater expertise and
efficiency among the new consultants, and additional consultants take effect. A
significant differential in annual billing hours is projected in the first year for the Lead
Consultant, based on current billing experience and her more than 20 years experience in
consulting. As the business evolves, the differential between the Lead Consultant and the
rest of the consulting team is projected to disappear, leading to a more standard pattern of
billing, one which is less dependent on any one individual’s skills and reputation.
The initial projection of 990 hours per consultant per year for the consulting team
represents an average of 82.5 hours per month. Based on the experience from July 2002
through February 2003, this projection turns out to be somewhat low for the consultants.
Two of the consultants were new employees in July, and it took them a few months to
become fully scheduled. Once that happened, billing levels of over 100 hours per month
became quite common, due to the volume of work available. One of the management
tasks is to limit the contracted work of the consultants to a reasonable level, which we
feel is an average of about 20 billable hours per week per consultant. Some months will
be higher and some lower due to public school vacations. Averaging much more than 20
hours could lead to burnout and would definitely interfere with professional development
activities that are organized for the consultants. We consider the optimal average weekly
billing for the seasoned consulting team in future years to be somewhat higher than the
realistic level for Year One. Adding new consultants for each of the next two years will
detract somewhat from what the overall average could otherwise be, as the future new
consultants will likely also need several months to reach their optimal billing level. We
have experienced differential billing patterns among the consultants. This will likely take
some time to resolve those.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
27
The annual target for the second year is 1020 hours per consultant – an increase of 30
hours. This is still an average of less than 20 billable hours per week, but should reflect a
greater proportion of consultants working at the optimal level of productivity, i.e., most
of them billing closer to the annual average than occurred during Year One. The target
for the third year is 1080 billable hours per consultant per year, which we feel will be the
optimal level of billable hours for a team of this size. This target requires a monthly
average of 90 hours, a weekly average of just less than 21 hours per week per consultant.
Most expenses are fixed. Initial salary levels and occupancy costs are known and the
extent of increase over the next two years is fairly certain. The only variable cost is
mileage, which accounts for 4% of overall expenses. The high proportion of known costs
is helpful, in that expenses are stable and not subject to significant variation over the
start-up period. However, the high proportion of fixed costs can also be problematic, in
terms of cash flow and in the event that service and revenue targets are not maintained.
Another factor illustrated by the income statements is BLN’s contribution to Benhaven’s
overall administrative costs. This remains at approximately 8% of total expenses in all
three years, but in cash terms rises from about $60,000 in the first year to about $113,000
projected for the third year. Benhaven as a whole benefits significantly from this
contribution to its administrative costs, in terms of freeing up money for program
expenses in other areas where revenues are fixed by the constraints of government
contracts and grants.
Summary of Three-Year Pro-Forma Operating Statement:
(000’s)
Year One Year Two Year Three
Revenue
$715
$1,099
$1,639
Personnel Costs
Non-Personnel Costs
Total Expense
Excess/(Deficit) of Revenue/Expense
613
159
772
887
212
1,099
1,267
274
1,541
($57)
$0
$98
Pro Forma Cash Flow Statements
These show the effects of seasonal revenue variation and reveal significant cash reserve
needs, even in years when an operating surplus is projected. This indicates the
importance of stable payment intervals, and raises the need to have strong payment
agreements in place prior to the provision of services. It also suggests the need to
develop substantial contingency plans for responding quickly to revenue or cash flow
shortfalls.
The availability of a parent organization to provide cash reserves and line-of-credit
borrowing capability is important to the development of BLN, even after it is operating
consistently in the black. The development of significant cash reserves is crucial for
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
28
Benhaven to respond to the ongoing periodic cash shortfalls BLN will experience. The
administration and Board of Directors have agreed to allow BLN to sustain an operating
loss of up to $60,000 in the first year of operations. Ongoing support for cash flow will
also be required to meet expenses when billing revenues are running below the monthly
average. The term “subsidy,” as used below, is intended to encompass all cash-flow
needs, whether or not an operating loss is involved. This is done to present and analyze
BLN as a separate venture, even though BLN is not a independent organization.
Subsidy Patterns – Year One
The net subsidy for Year One is $87,000. This includes a $60,000 projected operating
loss, $20,000 in capital expenses, and approximately $7,000 in negative cash flow. It is
especially significant that the first four months of the fiscal year require $99,000 in cash
flow “subsidy.” This is due to the combination of seasonally low revenues and relatively
high costs at the outset. This pattern of high monthly subsidy levels off, although it
fluctuates from positive to negative over the last half of the year. This points to the
significant need for subsidy in the early phases of the enterprise.
Subsidy Patterns – Year Two
There remains a net subsidy of over $39,000 in the second year, despite breaking even
operationally. Roughly half of the required subsidy is for capital expenditures, the other
half for negative cash flow. A first quarter subsidy of $128,000 is required, which is
proportionately smaller than the first year, but still significant. The same pattern of
fluctuation over the second half of the year exists, but the monthly amounts are much
higher, in both directions. This means that as the program grows, there is considerable
risk involved in terms of billing turn-around. Maintaining the tidy 30-day turn-around we
have experienced so far will be critical when the amounts increase in Year Two.
Benhaven’s current line of credit is adequate to cover the anticipated cash flow patterns
in Year Two, provided that the current patterns of payment remain in place elsewhere in
the organization (which is expected).
Subsidy Patterns – Year Three
By Year Three, the Learning Network is projected to attain a negative subsidy for the
year – that is, to take in more money than it consumes. The first quarter subsidy
increases to $158,000, which means that even if growth levels off in Year Four, there will
be an ongoing need for subsidy in order for this program to function. The second half of
the year fluctuation rises to an average of almost $35,000 per month. This accentuates
the need to maintain healthy cash flows as the program grows, in addition to a positive
operating margin. Of course, one the venture begins to generate a profit in Year Three,
those funds should make it more likely that BLN’s temporary subsidies can be handled
without drawing on the line of credit.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
29
Sources and Uses of Funds
Sources
($000’s)
Benhaven Board (1)
Amount
$60
Additional External (2)
$20
Total Sources
$80
Uses
Purchase Equipment.
Computer, Phone (3)
Operating Loss (4)
Working Capital (5)
Total Uses
Amount
$20
$60
$80
Footnotes:
1. The Benhaven Board of Directors has allocated a subsidy of $60,000 to offset first
year operating losses for Benhaven’s Learning Network.
2. The sources of these Additional External funds have not been identified. If no
external resource can be identified, the money will be granted in the form of upfront cash advances from Benhaven to BLN for both capital and operating
expenditures.
3. Capital expenses for the first year include a phone system, office furniture, and
computers. These are outlined in the notes to the Pro Forma Cash Flow
Summaries.
4. A $60,000 operating loss is projected for the first year, as detailed in the Pro
Forma Income Statements
5. Because of seasonal revenue reductions, which are not offset by proportional
expense reductions, considerable working capital is required to meet expenses
until revenues increase. The projected cash flow shortfalls and seasonal revenue
patterns are described in the Pro Forma Cash Flow Summaries and notes.
Benhaven, Inc will provide working capital.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
30
Risk Assessment and Contingency Plans
Major risks fall into two areas: revenue projections and staffing.
Revenue Projections:
The revenue projections are based on two factors:
1. Willingness of customers to pay for a given number of hours of consultation at a
given price.
2. Availability of consultants to meet the given level of market demand.
Risk: Willingness of Customers:
We feel that the assumptions about the willingness of Connecticut’s 169 school systems
to utilize the services of Benhaven’s Learning Network are conservative. There are
several reasons why there is risk inherent in these assumptions. First, we are assuming
that only 30 – 40 % of Connecticut’s school districts request services from BLN. That
means that we expect more than half of the districts will not want these services. They
may choose competitors or they may choose not to look for such services at all.
School systems will be able to save money by serving their own students with autism in
their own schools. Tuition at Benhaven’s school starts at over $66,000 for the current
year. Transportation to and from the school each day adds considerable cost to that – in
many cases to a total of over $100,000 per year per student. If school systems want to
save money, they could do so by bringing their students back from schools like
Benhaven’s. Most districts would need a great deal of assistance to accomplish this, but
paying for that assistance would still be much less expensive that paying the tuition and
transportation costs associated with placing students out-of-district.
Another risk could be that federal, state, and local governments become so financially
strapped that they really cannot afford the expense of this type of outside consultation.
Finally, there is a risk that we will satiate the demand and put ourselves out of business.
If, as we say, our mission is to build capacity in public school systems so that they are
able to serve their students well, it is conceivable that we will be successful and that
many districts will no longer need us.
Plans for avoiding or mitigating risk: The assumptions of market demand for BLN
services are based on current experience, without promoting or advertising the service to
any significant degree. Based on the feedback we receive, we believe that our approach
to services is strongly valued and that our price is considered to be modest. If we were to
lose business from school systems, we have the following contingency plans:
 Lower our costs by moving consultants back into the regular Benhaven, Inc.
professional work force.
 Seek other markets for these consultants. Although our focus is on the school
districts as our primary market, we also receive many referrals from state and
private agencies serving people with disabilities. Connecticut’s “Birth to Three”
system and Connecticut’s Bureau of Rehabilitation Services also frequently
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
31
request services from Benhaven’s Learning Network. The projections in the pro
forma statements are based on school systems only. If billable hours fall below
projections, BLN can take on more work from these other agencies.
Since salaries are the only meaningful known expenses where adjustments can be made,
options for control and management of expenses in the event of lower than expected
billing revenue are somewhat limited and potentially difficult to implement. The
following measures have been considered as contingency plans:
 Increase the utilization of part-time consultants, including staff shared with
other Benhaven departments. The number of qualified staff available from
elsewhere within Benhaven limits this strategy. The current plan already utilizes
“shared” staff to the extent practical. Our ability to “flex” the time of the fulltime consultants in any significant way is limited, and would be
counterproductive to the long-term interests of the venture. The relative scarcity
of the skills required to do this kind of consulting works against this as a solution.
 Incorporate alternative compensation strategies that “hold back” a portion
of what is available for salaries for the purpose of distributing later based on
individual or team performance (for examples, commissions, bonuses, and
other variations on the theme of variable compensation). While we have
interest in such a strategy, we also have concerns. One potential problem with
variable compensation in our environment is that it could create the incentive
among the consultants to maximize billable hours, as opposed to results, which
could lead to negative perceptions among the school districts regarding the value
of the service. Individual consultants do have some control over their level of
billable hours. Other factors, such as market demand for services, are more
significant. For now, we expect that if we had a consultant who had a pattern of
not bringing in enough revenues, we would deal with that employee separately.
We could not afford to carry an unproductive consultant for long. When we get
the point when the venture is prospering, we can consider the concept of variable
compensation to benefit those whose skilled and successful work is in such
demand.
 Increase the use of non-employee consultants or contractors, who are paid
only for billable hours, with no fringe benefits. There are a few independent
consultants working who might be interested in working as sub-contractors for
BLN on a part-time basis. This approach could offer some benefits, such as
adding a specific area of expertise that would be useful to the consulting team or
for specific projects. Such a relationship could also develop into one of new fulltime positions projected for Year Three. The complications associated with
identifying, coordinating, and monitoring independent sub-contractors make it
seem unlikely that we could substitute such relationships for as much as the
equivalence of two full-time consultants, for example. The skill set needed to do
this work well is quite rare, and people working independently tend to expect to
be highly compensated. Still the idea has merit.
All of these strategies have been ruled out, at least for now, as comprehensive
solutions, although opportunities to incorporate some of them to mitigate the effects
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
32
of revenue shortfalls may be available as the venture evolves. Since expenses will be
difficult to reduce in the short run, it will be critical to maintain the budgeted levels of
billable hours. Efforts will focus on finding ways to shorten the transition period for
new staff, where the greatest likelihood of revenue shortfalls will exist. It will be
important to take advantage of the capability of the Managing Consultant and the
Lead Consultant (who are both in very high demand by school systems) to help
establish excess caseloads that can be passed along to new consultants. It will also be
important to line up work before new consultants are hired to allow the development
of a structured plan that will allow the new consultants to achieve their billing targets
quickly.
If an economic downturn should occur that was so severe that current special education
laws were revised to lower standards, Benhaven would have to cope with reality.
Fortunately, Benhaven’s Learning Network budget is staff intensive, with very little
capital equipment. It is an operation that can be downsized quite easily. Benhaven
serves individuals who will always need care and supervision and is always looking for
capable personnel.
If school systems actually follow through on bringing their students back from out-ofdistrict placements that would probably affect Benhaven’s school, which currently serves
approximately 35 students. Benhaven has several contingency plans, one of which would
be to eliminate the school. Benhaven attempted to do that in 1992-93, but the effort was
discontinued because the school systems were not willing and able to bring their students
back. We would be pleased to try again.
Regarding the issue of satiating the demand, we have every reason to believe that we are
just scratching the surface. While we look forward to helping “islands of success”
develop in various schools around the state, we are confident that school systems will
continue to find us to be an extremely cost-effective strategy to use to solve problems that
develop from time to time.
Staffing
Risk: Availability of consultants:
This is our major concern. While we are confident about being able to recruit people to
fill available positions, we are not so confident about finding people with the right
qualifications and values. While the number of consultants anticipated in the pro forma
statement for Year One are already in place (and more are interested in joining), staff
could decide to leave at any time for various reasons. While every effort would be made
to replace people as they leave, there is no question that we feel this is our major risk.
Having fewer than the projected number of consultants available to meet demand would
lead to shortfalls in revenue projections, particularly in Year One and Year Two.
Plans for avoiding or mitigating risk: Every effort is made to have the personnel of BLN
value their jobs and the work they are doing. Their salaries are higher than public school
teachers are and they do not have many of the issues that usually concern public school
teachers and administrators. While their work is difficult, they are all very good at it and
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
33
they find it not only enjoyable, but also often thrilling. They also value the opportunities
they have to learn and work together with teams of like-minded people. We expect that
these factors will tend to make people want to stay. We also believe they will make
people want to join.
Risk: Dependence upon Managing Consultant:
Of particular concern is the possibility of the loss of the current Managing Consultant.
She is a charismatic leader with exceptional skills who has hand picked the current group
of consultants. It is the consensus of the group and Benhaven’s Executive Director that it
would be a severe loss if Ms. Grimm left.
Plans for avoiding or mitigating risk: It is important that the Managing Consultant see
this venture through its first three years. Mr. Wood confers frequently with Ms. Grimm.
Part of the discussion is about Ms. Grimm’s personal incentives for doing her current job.
While these incentives may change over time, it is clear that those currently identified are
being met. Ms. Grimm is proud of her role and is enthusiastic about her work. She has
been an extraordinarily loyal employee of Benhaven for over 20 years and she is proud of
all she has accomplished. She has expressed confidence that if her incentives change, as
they may over the years, Benhaven will be flexible enough to accommodate what she
may decide to seek. For example, plans for Ms. Grimm to enroll in a doctoral program
under the sponsorship of Benhaven.
In the event that Ms. Grimm has to leave due to health or family reasons, Benhaven
would rally its resources to deal with the problem. Contingency plans are being worked
out, though still in the discussion phase. First of all, Ms. Grimm has agreed to choose
one of the current consultants she feels would be the best person to replace her. This
person, once selected, would then have a professional development plan geared toward
ultimately becoming the managing consultant. The consultants have all said that, while
they would be very unhappy if Ms. Grimm left, their enthusiasm for their work would
still be there. A session was conducted, without the presence of Ms. Grimm, to give the
consultants an opportunity to identify the factors about their work that caused their
services to be in such demand and that gave them such pride. Notes from that session are
given in Appendix Q.
In an extreme emergency, Mr. Wood would step in to carry out the administrative and
supervisory duties of Managing Consultant on an interim basis.
Financial Sensitivity Analysis
This shows the effects of the most plausible variations in revenue. The degree of
plausible expense variation is considered to be insignificant. Revenues can vary due to
changes in the projected number of staff, or due to changes in the projected level of hours
provided by each consultant. The first year is projected to end in an operating loss, even
in the best case. The level of plausible variation for this year is low, because the revenue
projections are based on service levels that have already been achieved. It remains key,
however, to maintain the intended base for annual hours per consultant, as the operating
loss can nearly double if revenues fall short by as little as 5%.
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
34
The analysis shows that the second year is the most developmentally critical. Failure to
progress in terms of hours of service provided, or the loss (or failure to recruit) of a single
consultant can lead to operating losses of <$24,000> to <$121,000>. This points to the
need to do significant preventative work in terms of staff retention, customer satisfaction,
and advertising.
In the third year, the analysis shows much less risk. BLN can sustain significant billing
or staffing shortfalls and still operate at a surplus.
As shown in the following table, the cumulative three-year excess / (shortfall) under the
following five scenarios is as follows: (See Appendix R for detailed Sensitivity
Analysis.) The sensitivity analysis shows that the profit potential over the three years is
$137,000. The greatest potential loss is ($224,000). Benhaven, Inc. would take measures
before a loss of this magnitude was incurred.
Summary:
(000’s)
Year One
Year Two
Year Three
Cumulative
Most Likely No Growth
over prior
year
(58)
0
98
40
(58)
(24)
(25)
(107)
Benhaven’s Learning Network Business Plan
5% Billing
Shortfall
(94)
(55)
18
(141)
Loss of
Best Case
Consultants
N/A
(121)
1
(224)
(24)
35
126
137
35